Musical-instrument fall-board.



L. REICHUNG.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT FALL BOARD.

APPLICATION [El-.ED JAN. 14, 1916- 1,188,102. Patented June 20, 1916.

wiimww Iflwcator UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS REICI-ILING, 0F CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE BALDWIN COMPANY, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

MUSICAL-INSTRUMENT FALL-BOARD.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 20, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, LOUIS REIOHLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at Cincinnati, inthe county of Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Musical-Instrument Fall-Boards, of which the following is a specification.

In player pianos, organs and similar musical instruments with manual keyboards having fall-boards lying horizontally over said keyboards when said fall-boards are closed, it is often desirable to have such a fall-board divided into two parts, a narrow front fall, and a wider main fall at the rear of said front fall, these two parts being hinged together so that the front fall may be folded back while the main fall remains closed, thus allowing access to any expression control parts at the front of the keys while the main fall covers the tops of the keys. Such a divided and hinged fallboard also permits the fall-board to be folded and turned back into a smaller space than a single piece fall. The principal drawback in previous attempts in such structures has been the exposure of the entire hinge when the front fall was turned back on the main fall. This defect is overcome and an especially compact structure effected in the invention now set forth.

In the drawings Figure 1 is an end view of the improved fall-board entirely closed; Fig. 2 the same view with the front fall folded back while the main fall is closed over the keys; and Fig. 3 shows the front fall folded on the main fall, said main fall being thrown back and up from the keys. Fig. l shows an inferior, unimproved structure exposing the hinge when the front fall is turned back over the main fall; and Fig. 5

showsanother undesirable form which not only exposes the hinge when its front fall is folded back and under the main fall, but also has such folded front fall and hinge crowded too near the expression controls, and also compels the main fall to be raised to a slanted position.

In the improved device shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, the main fall 1 and its front fall 2 are joined by a hinge 3 having its pin 4 near to but covered by the upper face of the main fall 1 at its edge which adjoins the front fall 2, but hidden when both are closed down. The front fall 2 has an inward extension at its upper part. The front edge of the main fall 1 is beveled rearwardly from its upper to its under face, and the adjacent edge of the inward extension of the front strip 2 is beveled downwardly and forwardly from or near the upper face of its extension. The flaps of the hinge 3 are attached to these two beveled parts of the main fall 1 and vfront fall 2, forming an inverted V as shown in Fig. 1. With the extension of the front fall 2 equal to or a little in excess of the height of the bevel of the main fall 1, the front fall may be turned in under and close to the main fall in the small space between the tops of the natural keys 5 and the under face of'the main fall 1, as shown in Fig. 2, without crowding up the main fall from its normal level. Without this beveling for the hinge 3 an underfold front fall would have to be like 6 in Fig. 5, which not only raises its main fall 7 when folded under the latter, but sharp keys compel the division of the two falls to be so far forward that the edge of fall 6 when folded, will prevent the use of the expression handle 10' and expression button 11 by the person controlling the instrument by these devices. The use of a front-fall as 12 folding over the top of its main fall 18 as shown in Fig. ,4 compels an undesirable prominence of this part, especially as it compels the showing of the entire line of the joint edge of the hinge when the fall is closed, and the entire hinge is in view when the front fall 12 is thrown back on the main fall 13.

What I claim as my invention is 1. A'compound fall board having a horizontal main fall and a front fall having its principal part vertical when both are closed and a horizontal extension of its upper part toward the front edge of the main fall and of approximately the same distance of extension as the thickness of the main fall, said extension and front edge parts adjacent each other at their upper portions, and beveled away fro-m each other toward their lower portions to approximately 45 on each of said parts, and a hinge having two flaps and a center pin, said center pin positioned at the upper part of said beveled portions of the two falls, and one flap of said hinge attached to the beveled portion of said main fall, and the other said flap attached to the beveled portion of the front fall.

2. A compound fall board having a horizontal main fall and a front fall having its principal part vertical when both are closed and a horizontal extension of its upper part toward the front edge of the main fall, said extension and front edge parts adjacent each other at their upper portions, and beveled away from each other toward their lower portions to approximately 45 on each of said parts, and a hinge having two flaps and a center pin, said center pin positioned at the upper part of said beveled portions of the two falls, but slightly below the top faces of said falls, and one flap of said hinge attached to the beveled portion of said main fall, and the other said flap attached to the beveled portion of the front fall.

3. A compound fall board having a horizontal main fall and a front fall having its principal part vertical when both are closed and a horizontal extension of its upper part toward the front edge of the main fall, and of approximately the same distance of extension as the thickness of the main fall, said extension and front edge parts adjacent each other at their upper portions, and beveled away from each other toward their hinge attached to said main fall, and the other said flap attached to the front fall.

4. A compound fall board having a main fall and a second fall having its rineipal so tions of the two falls, and one flap of said 1 part at right angles to said main all when both said falls are closed, said second fall having an extension thereof in the plane with and toward said main fall and of approximately the same distance of extension as the thickness of the main fall, said extension and edge parts adjacent each other at the outer faces of said parts, and beveled away from each other toward the inner faces of said parts, and a hinge uniting the two falls and having its pintle in the plane of their outer surfaces when they are closed.

LOUIS REICHLING.

Witnesses PAUL HEUGGE, CARL BEYER.

copies ot this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the "Commissioner of ranks. Washington, D. 0. 

